Wall Art - Seaweed

Like all good projects, this one started with a shot:

Banana Split Shot
Equal Parts:
Vodka
Banana Liqueur
Creme de Cacao

This week I had my friend Nicole Lamb to craft and drink with which makes me seem less sad now, doesn't it? I don't always drink and craft alone! Just most Wednesdays. She even was gracious enough to let the crafting happen at her house, supervised by her dog, Gracie.

We covered the table with a festive and completely out of season Christmas vinyl tablecloth. It made things oddly more festive than slapping modge podge on canvas should have been. The idea for tonight's craft came vaguely from some Martha Stewart article Nicole saw online.



Materials Needed:

• 1 or more canvases. ( We used the cheapest we could find since we were just covering them up with fabric and glue anyway.)
• Modge Podge (Glue that dries clear can be substituted but I don't recommend it.)
• Fabric (Get more than enough to cover your canvas. We got ours at IKEA.)
• Stapler (ideally you should use a staple gun, but we are drinking, so smaller stapler = less trips to the Emergency Room.)
• Paint - We used cheapy teal acrylic paint, you may use classier paints if you wish.
• Artist - I free handed the seaweed, if you can't draw, print something to trace.
• Scissors
• Sponge brushes or regular paint brushes (whatever you have laying around.)

STEP 1: Lay your fabric out on the canvas. Move it around until you like how it looks on the surface. The look is better the crazier the patterning of the fabric. When you're satisfied, flip it over and trim away the excess fabric, leaving at least 4 inches of overhang.

Step 2: Take your stapler and staple one side. Pull the fabric taut and staple the opposite side. Keep doing that until the fabric is stretched and stapled tightly to the canvas. For the corners, experiment with folding until you get a clean edge. I did almost a napkin style triangular fold on the first one and then took two shots and subsequently had to do a much less attractive fold on the other corner. Since this is the back of the piece, no harm was done.

*Remember to celebrate in between steps! Jump up and down, toast to dead celebrities or your creative prowess. Pet the dog... You get the idea.*

Step 3: Modge Podge! Get your largest brush you're never going to use again, and liberally coat the front of the fabric with Modge Podge. Nicole took over at this point. She had the steadier hand, even after several shots were had. Just keep your strokes even and in one direction. This will permanently adhere the fabric to the canvas so it doesn't bunch or move around. Don't forget to do the edges as well as the surface!

The Modge Podge takes at least 3o minutes to dry. At this point, Nicole and I did shots to dead celebrities. Then to one another's health. We were very concerned with giving the glue sufficient time to dry. We touched them about every 30 seconds to see if they were dry. I don't recommend that unless you like glue stuck to your fingers.

Step 4: If you're free handing the design, get your paintbrush and get to work. Just dip the brush in the paint and fill it in. If not, now would be the part where you traced your design onto the fabric. Once your design is in place, just fill it it. I took over the painting of the seaweed while Nicole gave directions. When she wanted more branches on the seaweed she would insist upon more 'elk horns.' For some reason this worked for me.

And that's it, wait for the paint to dry and you're done! We waited about 60 seconds after cleaning our brushes to get to the hanging and admiring of our work. Here you can see me painting with my paper plate palette. At home I cover the table with trash bags and mix paints directly on the plastic but I was a guest after all!

Pictures of the finished project are below. Special thanks to Nicole for letting me drink her liquor and mess up her place. But since she was the once who got the finished artwork, I think I can honestly say we're even...and assure you, that I will drink to that.

The Spider & the Fly - Multimedia Painting

Project List
-canvas ( I used a 12" x 12")
-acrylic paint ( I used red, purple, light green and black)
-glitter paint
-yarn to match your spider web
-felt (red, black and dark blue)
-googly eyes or pom-poms or both!
-glue ( I used a low temp gun so as to avoid injury)
-embroidery floss
-fiber fill
-brushes
-drink of choice

Now I know what you're thinking, that looks like a laundry list up there but this is an easy project. Start by making yourself a drink. I had a grape bomb (redbull and grape vodka.) cover the area with a trash bag to keep the mess down.

Step One
Using a light color for the center, I chose red, splatter some paint directly onto the canvas. About halfway to the edge of the canvas spatter your medium color, purple in this case and then squish out some black in each of the four corners. Take a large paint brush or one of those cheapy sponge on a stick thingees and swirl the colors around in a circle until you have something that looks like a vortex to hell. This is your lovely backdrop for the spiderweb. Feel free to spatter black paint anywhere around the surface to give it some texture...or not. Have fun with it. We're not too picky. You should be done your first drink by now or at least wondering why you put so much ice in it. Coat the outer edge of the canvas in black as well so you can be lazy and not worry about framing your art. When you're done it will look like this:



Note the awesome swirliness of it! Relax for a few minutes with your drink while the acrylic dries. Get more ice if you have to but you're only ruining the flavor.

Step Two
Take a light color like white or light green or anything you feel is spider web-esque and loosely paint a spiderweb. You can draw it on with a paint pen if your hands are no longer steady. It should dry almost instantly. Give it a few sips.

Step Three
Get the glitter! Trace out the spider web with the glitter paint. It's starting to come together. I mixed my paint directly on the trash bag because palettes are expensive and I was out of paper plates.

The glitter will take at least twenty minutes to dry. So it's time to assemble the Spider and the fly. If you're really feeling it because you were foolish enough to begin crafting after shots, stop and let it dry overnight. Then move on to the Spider and the Fly.

Step 4
There is some sewing involved in this step. If you have double vision by now, you might want to glue the felt instead of sewing. But remember, we only use simple white craft glue when under the influence. Nothing's worse then hot gluing your face or the cat...or your face to the cat.

I cut 2 ovals each for the bodies and slightly rounder 2 ovals each for the heads. Using a whip stitch I sewed the pieces together. If your skill level is not up to sewing, just glue everything. It will take longer to dry but it'll look just as fabulous.
The spider's legs are made of yarn. Just 4 pieces of thick and chunky yarn and tie them in a knot. Glue or sew the knot into the center. I also stitched a length of yarn the same color as my glitter web to the back of the spider so he can hang. Googly eyes were glued on and for fun I added a glitter hourglass to my spider's back. The fly has pom-pom eyes with a dab of black paint for pupils.

Remember, you are drunk. If card stock spider and fly are all you can manage in your state, cut paper. Just remember to use safety scissors in your condition that's probably all you can handle. Wings on the fly are optional. Use ribbon, paper or just paint them onto the canvas.

Step Five
Assemble. Using the low temp glue gun, wrap a piece of the yarn that matches the web around the fly and glue him to the canvas. Have fun placing him. He doesn't have to match mine. That would take the fun out of it.

Give it like three-four seconds to cool then glue the length of yarn attached to the spider to the canvas. The only advice I'm going to give you here is: Make sure it looks like part of the painted web. Otherwise it'll just look like a crappy version of Pin the Tail on the Donkey.

You are now done. It should look similar to but hopefully not exactly the same as mine. Celebratory shots all around! Or you could look at the close-ups first and then....Celebratory shots all around! Make mine an apple pie shot!

Why Craft Sober?

Crafting is fun. Drinking is fun. So why not do them together?

Creating art takes intensity, imagination, cleverness and the complete silencing of the inner critique. I've found that the best silencer for that crabby little voice inside my head that critiques my whip stitching is vodka...or rum if I happen to be out of vodka...or wine if I'm out of the good stuff. As long as you forgo the obvious dangers of sharp scissors, needles and hot glue, drunk crafting can be a rewarding and entertaining experience.

So break out a bottle of your favorite liquor and join me in silencing the inner critic and loosening up your crafting inhibitions. But do the knit parts while sober because it's all fun and games until someone gets a knitting needle up their nose.